Slag pocket



J. P. MCLIMANS 1,795,959

SLAG POCKET 7 Filed Jan. 51, 1929 March 10, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 10, 1931. MGLIMANS 1,795,959

SLAG POCKET Filed Jan. 51, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Job/2 PMZ/ w;

Patented Mar. 10, 1931v UNITED STATES JOHN P. MCLIMANS, OI DULUT H, MINNESOTA SLAG POCKET Application filed January 31, 1929. Serial No. 336,576.

This invention relates to furnaces, such as open hearth furnaces and the like, and 1s more particularly concerned with that portion of the furnace in which slag is deposited 5 during the operation thereof. For the sake of convenience in description such portion of the furnaces will hereinafter in this discussion be termed the slag basin.

Owing to the fact that slag is of a very tenacious character, the task of removinga deposit thereof from the basin of a furnace 1s a very difficult one, and to the end of facilitating such removal numerous inventions have heretofore been directed. Two of such inventions have been produced and patented solely or jointly, by the present applicant.

In United States Letters Patent No. 837,191, granted November 27, 1906, in the name of the applicant jointly with one W. F. Carr, there is disclosed a basin in the form of a truck mounted on wheels and movable into and out of the lower portion of the furnace. In the use of such an arrangement the truck, when loaded with slag, may be pulled from the furnace and replaced by an empty one without going to the necessity of entirely cooling down or dismantling the furnace. Subsequently, in United States Letters Patent No; 908,311,'granted December 29, 1908,

there was patented by me an improved form of truck mounted in such a manner as to prevent the passage of air currents into the furnace during use of the truck.

The present invention relates to devices ofv the same general kind as those set forth in my former patents and has for an object, the provision of a new and improved arrangement for handling slag deposits in a furnace.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, there is provided a slag depository in the form of a vessel or basin that may be inserted into or removed from a furnace by means hereinafter, to be described. To the end of insuring a close fit between the slag vessel and the parts of the furnace with which the vessel is associated, and further to facilitate the removal and insertion of the vessel, the furnace is provided with a pocket having tapering side walls and the side walls of the vessel are. correspondingly tapered whereby a wedging action takes place when the vessel is inserted in the pocket.

- It will be appreciated that if the walls of the vessel were permitted to engage tightly I and directly the walls of the pocket, subse- 5 quent expansion of the vessel upon becoming heated would cause a locking action to take place which would tend to prevent removal of the vessel. In order to avoid this undesirable factor, an important feature of the invention consists in spacing the walls of the vessel inwardly from the walls of the pocket and in filling the space so formed with a suitable material, such, for example, as sand. When so formed the joint is tight, but permits expansion of the vessel.

Another feature of the invention consists in the provision of novel means for use in extracting the vessel from the pocket. As illustrated herein this improved means com- 7 prises a member having a shank piece arranged to extend beneath the vessel and a terminal portion arranged to extend upwardly along the rear face of the vessel, whereby pressure is applied to that face causing the vessel to be moved forwardly out of the furnace when a crane or similar a paratus is attached to the shank portion of the member. Still further to facilitate the insertion and removal of the vessel, the construction is such that the vessel rests directly on the member for efl'ecting its extraction and thus may be assembled on the member when the two parts are outside of the furnace and may then be inserted with the member as a unit. Inasmuch as a high and ofttimes a damaging degree of heat is imparted to the extracting member by reason of the proximity thereto of the slag basin, another feature of the invention consists in supplying a-cooling medium to the member. As illustrated herein, the member is cooled by air;

Inasmuch as the slag becomes exceedingly hot and tends to burn through certain localities of the walls of the pocket, a still further feature of the invention consists in the provision at such points of sections, orslabs, of neutral chemical substances, such, for example, as chrome or chrome ore to alleviate and offset the action of the molten slag.

Another extremely important feature of the inventionis that which consists in the introduction into the art at this time of .a new method of removing the vessel from the furnace which consists first in removing the filling material, 1. e., the sand from between the walls of the vessel and the walls oi the I cated thatupon being removed there is exposed the filling material that is lodged w thin the space between the vessel and the pocket. During heavy use or long continued use a of a slag vessel it has been found that a crumbling action takes place and with a view to strengthening the vessel and thereby increasing its life a feature of the invention consists in the provision of men-forcing elements, which are illustrated hereinas extending between the opposite inner side walls of the vessel.

Still other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from a reading of the specification in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view in front elevation of a furnace provided with slag pockets;

Figure 2 is a view in section in side elevation of the interior of one oi the pockets shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view in section of the furnace shown in Figure l; and

Figure his a view in front elevationsimh lar to- Figure 1 except that the parts are shown in section.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, the furnace comprises, generally speaking, a passageway 10 which leads into a slag chamber 12, and then communicates with an exhaust or due conduit 14. A ceiling wall 16 forms the top of the chamber 12, whereas a floor section 18 forms the bottom of the chamber and the front and rear walls thereof are formed by the front wall 20 and the rear wall 22 of a slag vessel 24. During the operation of the furnace, the flame carrying debris and slag moves through the passageway 10 and thence upwardly through the flue exit 14 causing an accumulation or refuse to be deposited in the vessel 24. This residue for all practical purposes maybe termed slag.

As illustrated, theslag vessels are arranged side by side and are separated from one another and from the outer wall of the furnace nveaese by means of highly refractory material 26. The material 26 is and in building the furnace, it is shaped to "form slag pockets of the desired shape and dimensions.

As illustrated herein, the pockets are of tapering formation, that is to say, that the side walls of the pocketstaper inwardly from the top to the bottom of the pockets and they also taper rearwardly from the outer entrance way end of the pocket to the rear flame passageway portion thereof.

The provision of tapered side walls increases the facility with which slag vessels may be removed from the slag pockets for if a plain rectangular vessel is provided of less width than the narrowest portion of the pocket, there will be notendency whatsoever for the vessel to becomejammed between the opposite side walls of the pocket to prevent removal of the vessel when desired. Similarly, it the vessel is made suficiently wide that a contact between the vessel and the pocket exists along the perimeter of the forward face of the vessel there will still be little tendency of the parts to become jammed.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, however, the side and end Walls of the slag vessel 24 are shaped to taper in a manner corresponding to the tapering of the side and end walls of the slag pockets. lhe vessels, however, are smaller than the openings or pocket-s into which they are placed and" by reason of this a space exists between the side walls of the vessels and the side walls of the pockets when the former are properly positioned within the latter. This thing of making the vessels smaller than the pockets is an extremely important factor since by means of such an arrangement the spaces between the vessels and thepockets may be filled with sand to provide a deformable backing for the vessel that will permit free expansion of the walls thereof without causing them to fuse or jam with the side walls of the pockets.

- Furthermore, the provision of the sand lining is still further conducive to quick and simple removaloi the-slag vessels from the pockets if and when desired. Thus, when it is desired to remove the vessels the sand may be first removed from the space it occupies thereby permitting free movement of the vessel within the pocket and rendering its removal therefrom a simple matter.

In order to provide for the removal of the sand between the vessels and the walls of the pockets the closure ends 20 of the vessels are cut away along their lower outside edge portions as indicated by the reference numerals 28, 30 in Figure 1, the cut away portion being normally closed by means of unbonded bricks or other suitable fillers or closures which may be easily removed when desired.

Thus, in the operation of the furnace, sand or any other suitable filler is poured into the space between the vessels and the pockets,

28 and 30 and then inany convenient manner, as, for example, through the use of a vacuum the sand or other filleris removed from the space between the pockets and the walls to permit easy and immediate removal of the vessels.

Turning now to the manner in which the actual removal of the vessels from the pockets takes place, Figure 2 illustrates the provision of a slag boat or support 32WhlCl1 comrises a shank portion 34 extending along the ottom of the vessel and a terminal portion 36 extending upwardly along the rear wall 22 of the vessel. The bottom of the slag vessel,- it will benoted in Figure 4, is grooved or recessed to receive the shank 34 of the slag boat and the width of the recess is greater than the width of the slag boat to permit the passage'and circulation of a cooling fluid, such,

for example, as air. It is customary to remove the vessels by means of cranes or other hoisting apparatus and to facilitate the attachment of the crane mechanism to the slag boat the outer or forward extremity thereof is provided with a plurality of laterally extending lugs or projections 38.

It will be observed that the slag vessel rests directly. on the slag boat 34 and that the floor 18 across which the boat slides upon entering the pocket is of a slanting or sloping formation in therear of the pocket along the part indicated by the reference numeral 40. By means of such a provision the insertion and removal of the vessel into and from the pocket are still further facilitated for during entry the boat and vessel move horizontally into the pocket for a certain distance whereupon the outer extremity of the boat 34 may be raised thereby tilting the boat and vessel and permitting the two parts together to.

slide down the incline 40 to become firmly seated within the pocket. Similarly, in removing the vessel from the pocket it may first be tilted to assume a horizontal position before removing it whereby it is thoroughly and completely separated from the walls of the pocket. To assist in maintaining the boat and pocketin their tilted position during operation of the furnace an iron beam 42 may be positioned beneath the forward extremlty of'the boat.

It has been found in the provision and o eration of furnaces of this kind that there is a tendency on the part of the slag to fuse or.

otherwise act detrimentally upon the walls or other parts of the slag chambers and in order to prevent this the present invention contemplates the provision at those points where such action is concentrated of sections or slabs 44 of metal having neutral chemical properties. Suitable metals for use in these slabs or sections are, for example, chrome, chrome ore, etc.

Inasmuch as-during the insertion and removal of the vessel into the pocket and during. the time or period the vessel is disposed within the burning furnace severe stresses and strains are im arted to the walls of the vessel and with a view to satisfactorily withstanding said strains and stresses the illustrated slag vessels are provided with arched reenforcing walls 46, 48 which extend between the opposite side walls of the furnace. .It is to be understood, of course, that the present invention may be used in furnaces of various and different kinds without departing in the slightestfrom the invention herein set forth and that modifications and change in design and appearance of the various parts of the sla chambers ma be made with the exercise 0 mechanical s ill without constituting departures from the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by United 'States Letters Patent, is:

1. A' furnace construction comprising a slag pocket having its walls tapered in two dimensions to facilitate the removal of slag therefrom.

2. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a downwardly tapered slag pocket and a slag vessel adapted to be inserted into the pocket.

3. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a downwardly tapered slag pocket and a correspondingly tapered slag" vessel adapted normally to be disposed Within the pocket.

4. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a slag pocket havlng downwardly tapered side walls, and a slag vessel normally positioned withinthe pocket, the walls of said vessel being spaced from the walls of said pocket.

5. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a slag pocket having its side walls tapering in a vertical and a horizontal direction, a slag vessel normally disposed within the pocket, the walls of said vessel being spaced from the 'Walls of the pocket, and a filler of suitable material closing the space between, the walls of the vessel and the pocket.

6. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a slag pocket, a sla vessel adapted normally to be disposed wit in said pocket, the bottom of said vessel havin a trough formed therein, and a slag boat is- I 4 Y menace combination, a slag vessel havingside and .end walls, and a plurality of arched reen= forcing walls extending between the opposite inner faces of the side walls,

5 8.'A furnace construction comprising, combination, a plurality of walls shaped to form a pocket, a removable slag vessel nor mally mounted within the pocket, the walls of the vessel being spaced inwardly from the walls of the pocket, and a removable filler in.-

serted in the space between the wallsof the vessel and the walls of the pocket, the walls of the furnace being provided with a quickly removable section whereby the removal of the filler is facilitated.

9. A furnace construction comprising, in combination, a plurality of walls constructed and arranged to form a pocket, a slag vessel normally seated within the pocket, the walls of the vessel being spaced from the walls of the pocket, a filling material disposed within the space between the vessel and the pocket, and an unbonded section of bricks disposed within the walls, said bricks being easily removable to permitthe displacement of the filler from the space between the vessel and the pocket.

Signed at Duluth, Minnesota, this 19th day of J anuary, 1929.

3c M JQHN P, MCLIMANS. 

